obliterate

Definition of obliterate

obliterated

obliterating

transitive verb

1a: to remove utterly from recognition or memoryb: to remove from existence : destroy utterly all trace, indication, or significance ofc: to cause to disappear (as a bodily part or a scar) or collapse (as a duct conveying body fluid) :remove 4 <a blood vessel obliterated by inflammation>

2: to make undecipherable or imperceptible by obscuring or wearing away

obliteration

obliterator

Examples of obliterate in a sentence

<in a stroke, the March snowstorm obliterated our hopes for an early spring>

Did You Know?

Far from being removed from existence, "obliterate" is thriving in our language today with various senses that it has acquired over the years. True to its Latin source, oblitteratus, it began in the mid-16th century as a word for removing something from memory. Soon after, English speakers began to use it for the specific act of blotting out or obscuring anything written. Eventually (by the late 18th century), its meaning was generalized to removing anything from existence. In the meantime, another sense had developed. In the late 17th century, physicians began using "obliterate" for the surgical act of filling or closing up a vessel, cavity, or passage with tissue. Its final stamp on the English lexicon was delivered in the mid-19th century: "to cancel a postage or revenue stamp."